


Sombrita

by Jynxar



Category: Narcos (TV)
Genre: And covers some heavy topics, Dog death, I really really really want you to think about if you want to read this, It has made multiple people cry, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, so read at your own risk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 10:08:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30070647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jynxar/pseuds/Jynxar
Summary: Javi finds a stray dog one night that ends up being a lot more important than either of you could have imagined.
Relationships: Javier Peña/Reader, Javier Peña/You
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Sombrita

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE read the tags before you read this. It's made most of the people I've showed it to either upset or cry, not in a bad way, it just covers some heavy stuff. So if you don't think you can handle that, PLEASE don't read it. I don't want to upset anyone past what they can handle.

If you were asked which of your coworkers at the DEA would be most likely to bring home a stray dog, Javier Peña would be at the very bottom. The man didn’t seem to have a caring bone in his body from what you’d seen, but there he was, crouched on the ground behind a dumpster trying to lure a half-starved mutt out of the alley corner.

A muffled swear had drawn you down the alley, almost positive it had sounded like your partner. You were right, and while you hadn’t planned for your night to go like this, now _you_ were crouched in an alley behind a dumpster as well. Your hand rested on his shoulder as he reached out, muttering something in Spanish.

“Vente, no te voy a hacer daño.” A little sliver of darkness peeled off from the shadows behind the dumpster, materialising into a scrawny little dog. You could feel a vice squeezing your heart at the sight. Javi perked up at the progress, reaching into a paper bag at his side to dig around for a moment. You assumed it was leftovers of whatever he and Steve had ordered for dinner at the office, and your assumption was confirmed when he fished out a piece of meat.

He held it out towards the puppy, and you had to bite down on your lip to stifle a sound at how conflicted the poor thing looked. It was obvious it had been a while since it last ate properly, but clearly it wasn’t sure if it could trust the two of you yet. 

“Ven perrito, no te voy hacer nada, donde te llevo vas a tener cama y comida y amor.” You’d never heard that tone of voice from your partner before, so kind and gentle. As if he could feel your eyes on you he shifted slightly, clearly uncomfortable at you seeing him as something other than the hardass he was at work. He wasn’t letting that stop him from trying to help the dog though, and both of you tensed when it took a few steps forward. A few seconds later the piece of meat in Javi’s hand was gone.

The next day you assumed Javi wouldn’t want to talk about what you’d seen the night before, so you were surprised when he cornered you in the breakroom and haltingly asked you to help him pick out dog things that evening after work. He didn’t meet your eyes, embarrassment from the night before still lingering. A tease dance on the tip of your tongue, ready to fall back into the joking friendship that had formed between the three of you over the last few months since you came to work in Colombia. When he did look up to meet your eyes the words died just as fast as they formed, unable to tease him when he had that pleading look in his eyes.

That’s how you ended up in a Colombian pet store, picking out leashes and a dog bed and toys. So. Many. Toys. Javi informed you that while he was pretty sure the dog was a mutt, she was clearly a she, so everything that went into your cart was various shades of pink and purple. You had to stifle a giggle in the checkout line at the idea of Javier Peña, the agent that ran down sicarios and didn’t blink with a gun to his head, walking a tiny little dog on a pink leash.

The little shadow behind a dumpster from the night before seemed like an entirely different dog today. She came running up to Javi the second he opened the door, her patchy fur scrubbed clean. When you reached a hand out she regarded you with an almost human look of distrust, sniffing cautiously at your fingers before she recognized your scent from the night before and her tail started moving a mile a minute.

“Have you named her yet?” you asked.

Javi shrugged, setting her back on the floor to shuffle further into his apartment.

“No. I’ve...never had a dog before. I have no clue what to call her.” He puttered around the apartment, dropping the bed that was _far_ too big for such a little dog next to the couch and littering toys around the floor. She lost her mind, bouncing from toy to toy in excitement like she couldn’t believe they were all for her. For a moment the two of you just stood there watching her.

“What about Shadow? She’s all black, except for that white patch on her chest, and she certainly blended into the shadows last night.” Javi eyed you for a moment before he turned back to her, nodding once.

“Shadow sounds good.”

As the weeks passed Javi gave you occasional updates, letting you know when he taught her a new trick or she overcame some fear still lingering from her time on the streets. You’d sometimes stop by after work to see her, although you had to admit after a while that it was becoming more and more of an excuse to see her owner too. He was a whole new person around Shadow, soft and not at all the hard DEA agent you’d come to know.

He smiled more now, and not just at home. You’d look up to the sound of laughter at work and see Steve and Javi joking back and forth, or he’d smile at something you said that just a month before would have gotten you a slightly amused grunt. He didn’t snap at people nearly as often, and one time when he opened his wallet to pay someone off you caught a glimpse of a little polaroid of a familiar black smudge. 

Shadow didn’t really seem to like Steve all that much, although she tolerated him more than any other male she met. You had a theory it was because she could tell how much Javi cared about his other partner, despite how much he might try to hide it. You though, Shadow loved you almost as much as she loved Javi. You might not have been the one that took her home, but you’d been right there when Javi pulled her off the street, so in her little mind you were just as good as him. 

You were there for her first visit to the vet, emotional support for Javi more than the dog. He was a nervous wreck, although he tried to put up the tough DEA agent facade when you walked into the vet’s office. The second Shadow let out a whimper on the examination table he slid his hand into yours to keep from snatching her out of the vets hands, and you had to hold back your surprise at the gesture.

She had a few problems, nothing that wasn’t expected from her being on the street for presumably most of her life, and the vet gave Javi some medications to treat them. You helped him with the first few doses, especially with holding her for the eyes drops. You could practically hear his heart breaking when you squeezed the drops into her eyes and she tried to squirm out of his arms. He hugged her a little closer, whispering soothing words in Spanish that you still couldn’t quite understand yet.

You still weren’t sure how it started, who kissed who first, but one night of checking up on him and Shadow led to a quick beer, and then two, and then you on his lap on the couch. Visits that used to just be to make sure the two were doing alright turned into nights spent in his apartment. Sometimes in his bed, sometimes just playing with Shadow, sometimes a mix of the two. 

You got to see an even softer side of your partner than you ever did before. One night, when he and Steve came back from a bust you hadn’t gone on, you opened your arms without comment at the sight of the demons in his eyes. Hookups became him holding you tightly while you slept, words you still didn’t understand but could guess at the meaning of whispered in your ear when he thought you were asleep.

The first thing you could call a date with Javi came in the form of a visit to the dog park. It was cut rather short, Shadow apparently still a little nervous around that many new dogs. He carried her the whole way home, muttering, “Estoy aquí, todo esta bien, estas salva,” the whole time.

You’d been officially dating for a year when he dragged you to the dog park for the millionth time. Once Shadow had gotten used to being around other dogs he took her at least twice a week. He said she needed to make friends, that and he felt bad for how much he worked and left her at home. You were crouched on the ground petting a large golden retriever when Shadow hopped up on your leg excitedly, a small box in her mouth. When you managed to pry it away you opened it to reveal a small diamond ring. You turned to look at Javi in confusion only to see him kneeling on the ground behind you looking more nervous than you’d ever seen him before. 

Your wedding was the first time you saw Javi cry, a few tears slipping out when he saw you start down the aisle. Naturally Shadow was involved in the wedding. She trotted down the aisle in a little flower crown, a basket hanging from her mouth containing the wedding rings. When you take a deep breath and start into your vows in Spanish, rehearsed with his dad over the phone until you could say them in your sleep, Javi looks like he’s going to break down right there. 

After Escobar is killed and the three of you are sent back to the States you’re not sure how Javi handles putting Shadow in a crate in the hold. He’s pulling her into his arms as soon as he’s able, muttering something about “how can they separate us like that” while you exit the airport.

A few months later, after you’ve settled into the new place, you take a page from his book and send Shadow into his office while he works with an ultrasound in her mouth. You hover in the doorway as he reaches down to pet her and pulls the paper from her mouth. He stares at it for a moment, long enough you think he’s stopped functioning, before he whips around in his chair to look at you fast enough he almost topples over. He’s across the room pressing his face into your belly before you can blink, and it’s the second time you see your husband cry.

Shadow gets very protective of you during your pregnancy, even snapping at Javi a few times if he touches you in a way she deems inappropriate. The first time it happens you both freeze. She’d never snapped at either of you before, not even in the beginning. After that he’s more careful when Shadow is around, although she still snaps at him a few more times before the baby is born. Shadow knows you’re in labor before you do, pacing around the apartment and whining almost an hour before you realize the contractions you’re feeling are real and not practice.

Javi is a nervous wreck in the delivery room, beside himself with worry over the fact that you’re hurting and all he can do is let you squeeze his hand. The sound of your daughters first cry is the third time you see him cry, and you wish you could snap a picture of the moment she’s handed over to him for the first time. He holds her like he’s afraid to break her, awe filling his eyes as he stares down at her.

Shadow loves little Isidora, named for Javi’s mother you never got to meet, from the moment you bring her home. She noses at the tiny clenched fist every time Isidora cries, watches intently during tummy time while your daughter learns to roll over, and doesn’t make a peep when Isidora fists her hands in Shadows fur to shakingly pull herself to her feet for the first time.

She’s just as protective during your second pregnancy, although she doesn’t snap at Javi this time, and when little Sebastian is born she goes through all the same steps she did with Isidora. There’s grey in her fur by your third pregnancy, and she seems to mourn just as hard as you and Javi when that baby never makes it past month four of your pregnancy.

You say goodbye almost ten years to the day from when you and Javi found her. Isidora is five and Sebastian three, too young to really understand what’s going on when you and Javi lift them high enough to say goodbye to Shadow on the vets table. A routine visit just a few months before had revealed a lump of cancer in her lungs, and although you tried your best to help her, she was just too old to handle it. You’ve lost count of how many times your husband has cried by now, but you mentally add another tally to the list as Shadow noses into his hand, still trying to comfort him even as weak as she is.

It’s too quiet in the house when the four of you return home. You place the little frame the vet’s office gave you of her nose and paw print on a shelf in the living room. Neither of you cry until later that night when you’re tucking the kids in and Sebastian sleepily asks why Shadow isn’t in bed with him. You try your best to explain that Shadow is gone now, but it’s ok because she was sick and now she’s not in pain anymore.

You hold Javi as he cries that night, thinking back to the night you found Shadow. It hurts not having her around anymore, you won’t deny that, but you’re glad she was around for the time she was. You wouldn’t have the family you do without her, Javi might never have opened up without her. Javi cries himself out, drifting off to sleep soon after, and your last thought before you drift off as well is about how sometimes angels come wearing fur and walking on four legs.

**Author's Note:**

> Spanish Translations
> 
> Vente, no te voy a hacer daño = Come on, I’m not going to hurt you
> 
> Ven perrito, no te voy hacer nada, donde te llevo vas a tener cama y comida y amor = Come on doggy/puppy, I’m not going to do anything to you. I’m going to take you to a place with a bed and food and love
> 
> Estoy aquí, todo esta bien, estas salva = You’re ok, I’m right here, you’re safe


End file.
